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Monday, 4 August 2014

Asari denies masterminding Kaduna bomb blast

Leader of Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, has denied allegation that he masterminded the bombing in Kaduna that almost killed former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.)
Asari Dokubo 
Asari Dokubo
Asari Dokubo
Asari, who spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said the allegation was part of a ploy by those behind the attack to rubbish him ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Speaking through the national chairman of his group, Aladiokuma Hart, Asari alleged that the same group behind the allegation masterminded his arrest in Benin Republic because of the coming general polls.
Challenging those behind the allegation to substantiate their claim, Asari said he was sure the same persons organised the bomb blast with an intention to score what he termed cheap political goals.
The government said: “We want to categorically state that anybody carrying this sort of rumour should be ready to stand and testify when called upon with facts and figures, date, time and (the) venue that he or she knows how Alhaji Dokubo-Asari masterminded the attack.
“They should come out in the open and stop using the media as a grapevine for defamation of character. They are all drowning people looking for what to take hold of in their failed mission.”
Condemning the killings by Boko Haram, the group further reaffirmed its support for the second term bid of President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to the group, “we will stand behind our brother, President Jonathan, to run for a second term come 2015 and call on him to declare his intention to be re-elected into office and continue his transformation agenda for the good of the nation.”

Glo to Falconets: Make Nigeria proud

Major sponsor of Nigerian national football teams, Globacom has called on  Nigeria’s U-20 Women national team, the Falconets to go out and do the nation proud at the 2014 FIFA U – 20 Women World Cup scheduled to begin on August 5 in Canada.
FalconetsThe Nigerian team is competing in Group C and will play its first game on August 6 against Mexico before meeting South Korea on the 9th and then England in the last Group match on the 13th.Falconets
“Falconets have come a long way in this competition and we believe it is time for them to take their proper place by going all the way at the tournament,” Glo stated.
“We have also noted the tenacity that the Falconets’ technical crew has brought to bear on the team’s preparation and we believe that everything will work well for the team this time around,” the statement added.
According to the telecommunications company, the complement of new Falconets’ invitee, USA-based Courtney Dike will add value to the squad.
Courtney, an accounting student of Oklahoma State University who also plays in the school football team, is the younger sister of Super Eagles striker, Bright Dike.
“We commend the resolve of the coaching crew and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to widen its horizon in recruiting fresh talent to fortify the team. Everything necessary needs to be deployed on the technical front to achieve the ultimate goal of lifting the trophy,” the statement further said.
Globacom added that “It is important at this juncture for all Nigerians to give maximum support to the Falconets so as to stimulate them to bring glory to the nation as the tournament begins”.

Friday, 1 August 2014

I formed all-girls band to encourage Nigerian girls , says Yeka

Yeka Onka, the winner of the first Nigerian Idol music talent hunt, said she formed an all-girl music band because she wanted to encourage every girl-child to have a role model.
Yeka said on Thursday in Lagos that she wanted to be unique by doing something different from what others were doing in the entertainment industry.
Yeka
Yeka
Yeka (Onyeka Onwuka) won the ‘Nigerian Idol’ contest sponsored by one of the nation’s telecommunications outfits, Etisalat in 2011.
“Unfortunately in Nigeria, they expect every tall, slim looking girl to be a model or be into fashion, but I didn’t choose music, music chose me.
“So, I just fell in love with it and I ran with the groove and here I am enjoying what I’m doing.
“I have an all-girl band and I did that because I really wanted to stand out from the crowd.
“I just wanted to create a different name for myself and I wanted a situation where every Nigerian girl-child would have a role model.
“When I was young, I always wanted to play an instrument; my parents were actually musicians but I was too stubborn to settle down and just learn one.
“So, growing up and becoming a musician, I’m like, okay, how about I just have an all-girl band and that’s cool.“
Yeka also disclosed that she was working on a number of songs and videos that would be released in coming weeks.













                                                                                                               

Husband chins wife, seizes three-month-old baby

A Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan on Friday dissolved the marriage between one Tawakalitu Suleiman and her husband, Mohammed, over the latter’s seizure of their baby.
The President of the court, Mr Ademola Odunade, held that seizing a three-month-old baby from the mother constituted a crime against God and humanity.
“It is child abuse to deny such a baby access to his mother and wrong to also chain down the mother under any disguise.
“You are very lucky that other parties concerned in the matter have prayed the court to temper justice with mercy.
“The case has already gone beyond mere marriage dissolution and has now attained a criminal nature.
“In any case, both of you are no longer husband and wife from today and Mohammed shall pay a monthly feeding allowance of N5,000 for the upkeep of the child,” the judge stated.
Earlier, Tawakalitu had told the court that her husband chained her down and took her baby to an unknown destination.
“I don’t exactly know why Mohammed treats me that way.
“Please, help me take my baby from him and let me go my way,” Tawakalitu had pleaded.
But in his defence, Mohammed said Tawakalitu was mentally ill and needed to be chained down to allow for medical treatment.
“ I am local physician and she was brought to me as a patient. I cured her. I told her people that I will marry her and continue to cater for her and they agreed.
“Unfortunately, she still experiences the condition occasionally because she inherited it and so I had to take the baby from her to prevent his being harmed.
“I gave the child to my mother who takes good care of him,” he said.
Witnesses, who appeared in court, also claimed that Tawakalitu had a mental challenge. (NAN)

Police nab islamic cleric preparing concoction with placenta

placentaAn Islamic cleric, simply identified as Alfa Gani was, Wednesday night, caught in Laduba, Ogidi area of Ilorin West Local Government Area, making concoction with the placenta of a new baby girl he performed her naming ceremony the previous day.
placenta
Gani, the house where the placenta was found.
After the bizarre incident, sources said human parts were also found in the cleric’s residence.
Consequently, angry members of Laduba community pulled down his two buildings.
It took the intervention of policemen who quickly whisked the cleric and his family away to save them from being lynched.
The latest discovery brings to three, the number of suspected human parts markets discovered in Ilorin and Okuta towns in Baruteen Local Government Area in recent times.
The men of Kwara State Police Command had, penultimate week, paraded three human parts dealers, while the police were still investigating a four-storey building along Airport Road in Ilorin where human parts were also found.
How the suspect was nabbed
The latest discovery was made when the community leaders in Laduba decided to raise some volunteers to go round the houses in the area to ask for contribution for the repair of their faulty transformer.
On getting to the suspect’s house, Journalist gathered, the volunteers were greeted with offensive odour from the house. Worried, they alerted other members of the community about the odour.
The volunteers, subsequently, mobilised more residents to the house of the islamic cleric, asking him to explain the cause of the odour.
But Alfa Gani was said to have feigned embarrassment, accusing the concerned community members of trying to intrude into his privacy.
Journalist gathered that the development degenerated to argument between him and members of the community who insisted that they must get to the root of the matter.
The suspect, the source further said, angrily left them in his house to lodge a report at the nearby Oloje police station.
But before his arrival, the residents were said to have forced their way into the house where they met a boy preparing some charms with the baby’s placenta which was the cause of the stench in the first place.
Consequently, the angry mob that had gathered descended on the boy, making him confess that the cleric asked him to exhume the baby’s placenta to prepare the charms.
In the middle of the confusion, the mother of the baby was said to have rushed to the point where the baby’s placenta was buried only to discover that it was no longer there.
While the commotion lasted, Alfa Gani, according to the source, arrived the scene with some policemen with the intention to arrest those trying to “intrude into his privacy” but the community rose against them and presented the true version of the story to the Police.
“It was at that point that the police decided to search the entire house following which they discovered more human parts,” a source said.
The police, it was further gathered, extended their search to an uncompleted building behind the suspect’s house only to discover that the place was being used as a slaughter slab for human parts.
Mob set his buildings ablaze
The mob, therefore, demolished the structures and set the suspect’s property on fire.
The presence of the policemen, it was gathered, prevented the mob from carrying out jungle justice on the suspect who was whisked away by the police.
Contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the incident but said it was not a case of human parts selling.
He said a man was caught with baby placenta and the community descended on him.
Okasanmi said the man was just released from prison where he served a term for similar reason, saying: “We are still investigating the case.”

Our Football Reflects Us

Nigeria's forward Peter Odemwingie (3rd-R) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the Group F football match between Nigeria and Bosnia-Hercegovina at the Pantanal Arena in Cuiaba during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 21, 2014.  AFP PHOTO /Nigeria’s forward Peter Odemwingie (3rd-R) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the Group F football match between Nigeria and Bosnia-Hercegovina at the Pantanal Arena in Cuiaba during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 21, 2014.

WHAT happened to the Super Eagles in Brazil? Nobody is asking the question, so do not expect any answers. Were fast-paced actions that dismantled the Nigeria Football Federation, restored it to office and finally consumed its President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, enough to blot out questions about Brazil?
Football is our national opium. When we desire a dose, we forget everything, wallowing in the blissful fantasy it provides. Once the effect wears off, we have our problems before us, worse than what we set out to cure.
Nigeria's forward Peter Odemwingie (3rd-R) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the Group F football match between Nigeria and Bosnia-Hercegovina at the Pantanal Arena in Cuiaba during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 21, 2014.  AFP PHOTO /
Nigeria’s forward Peter Odemwingie (3rd-R) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the Group F football match between Nigeria and Bosnia-Hercegovina at the Pantanal Arena in Cuiaba during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 21, 2014. AFP PHOTO /
This attitude could summarise our national life. We sent a team to the World Cup with variegated expectations. Scandals, like the team refusing to train over entitlements, were not among them.
Further insistence on money that resulted in a presidential jet ferrying millions of dollars to the team – like our Ghanaian brothers – stunned us. Instructively, both teams lost games played after night-long sessions spent splitting millions of dollars to the last cent.
The story is told of the counting and re-counting of each player’s dues until the early hours of match day. Nothing seems to have been wrong with the incidents in Brazil.
Since the World Cup ended, we have had two mini celebrations that appear to be our own World Cup victories. The Super Eagles made the second round at the competition, the best performance since 1998, though it was a milestone erected at the Eagles’ inaugural World Cup 20 years ago. Then we rejoiced that FIFA did not impose a sanction that could have locked out our football from international competitions for years.
The absurdity of the celebrations say much about the bland standards we have set for our football, such that we do not care about the billions of Naira we recklessly waste on football at the expense of other sports.
Senate President David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark is among those complaining. He was the leader of the presidential delegation to the World Cup. He had no clue about the wastes in football. Who then is response for these national wastes? Two National Assembly committees (one in the Senate, the other in the House of Representatives) have overseen football and approved its budgets since 1999.
None of the sports committee members, who flooded Brazil, has raised the scandals on the floor of the National Assembly. Their eyes are already set on largesse from the 2015 CAF Nations Cup in Morocco. It promises more benefits for the closed family of football looters.

Election to replace the present board is of more importance to “stakeholders” than curing the ills in our football. The National Assembly should ensure that oversight functions do not literally translate to overlooking the scandals round football.

Village head commits suicide 4 days to daughter’s wedding

The immediate family and relations of Chief Samuel Omeonu Ezengwa, a village head in Umunkita, Nenu Autonomous Community in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State, have been thrown into shock after the head of the family and a village head in the community allegedly committed suicide by hanging four days to the daughter’s traditional wedding.
A source in the area said the body of the village head was discovered hanging on a tree at about 7am Wednesday by a member of his family who had gone out that morning.
Though it was not known his reasons for committing suicide, Journalist gathered that the incident has put on hold the deceased daughter’s traditional marriage billed to hold on Sunday, August 3.
A family source said the night before the unfortunate incident, he had had an intensive discussion with the deceased over his daughter’s traditional marriage coming up at the weekend, adding that  the deceased never showed any sign of depression which had been attributed as a major cause of the incident.
Sources said on hearing of the incident, the Eastern Ngwa Police Division drafted their men to the area where they had a close session with the immediate family and later left the compound with the man’s body still hanging on the tree.
A villager who spoke on anonymity, said the body of the deceased could only be brought down for burial after some rituals had been performed as demanded by their custom, describing the state of the man’s death as one of the things that “is highly” prohibited by their traditional belief.
Members of the family were said to have been in deep shock over the incident and could not speak publicly on the issue.
Some reports, which were yet to be verified at press time, have it that the victim committed suicide after the community had written the family inviting them to explain what they knew about an alleged financial embezzlement on an electrification project in the community, an amount some said would be too much for them to repay.
Efforts to reach the state Police Public Relations Officer failed as he did not pick calls pull through his phone but a reliable police source confirmed the incident.